Millions of ASP.NET websites rely on high-powered embedded privileged account credentials as a means to authenticate with databases, middleware, and back-end application tiers. Oftentimes ASP.NET applications are deployed using privileged account credentials that are widely known to the organization's application developers, network and system administrators, third-party programmers and consultants.

"Knowing a single ASP.NET credential an IT staff member or outside contractor can modify back-end applications, alter public facing websites, read and change database records, and even access private transaction data," said Chris Stoneff, Lieberman Software product manager. "And, this can all be done anonymously, at any time, with zero accountability. That's why it's essential to get these application credentials under control."

ERPM provides a three-tier solution with deep knowledge of the ASP.NET architectures, including .NET 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 encryption schemes, as well as all of the different ASP.NET web.config structural standards. In addition to managing credentials in ASP.NET applications, ERPM also secures the credentials stored in databases (including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 11g, Sybase ASE, MySQL) and all common directories (including Active Directory and all other LDAP-compliant directories).

"Security auditors are now exposing unmanaged ASP.NET credentials as part of their compliance audits," said Philip Lieberman, president of Lieberman Software. "IT departments quickly learn that scripts and other ad-hoc processes are painfully inadequate for managing the complex hierarchical structure of inheritance that's present in many web applications. Fortunately ERPM helps organizations achieve account discovery, secure management and GRC compliance with respect to ASP.NET credentials in just a few days, even in the largest environments."

Because so many embedded credentials exist in typical ASP.NET deployments, few organizations can document the presence of each hard-coded credential -- let alone ensure that all passwords are cryptographically strong, frequently changed, and known only to authorized personnel. This oversight violates nearly all regulatory compliance frameworks including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and FISMA. According to these mandates, embedded passwords must be changed whenever ASP.NET websites go into production. Further, privileged account credentials should be cryptographically strong, frequently updated, and not disclosed to anyone except on a "need to know basis".

ERPM, the flagship privileged identity management solution from Lieberman Software, is unique for its ability to continuously strengthen all types of privileged account credential present in today's datacenters. These include:

• Administrator and Root login accounts used by IT staff to change configuration settings, run programs, and perform other duties.

• Service accounts that use privileged login IDs and passwords to run.

• Application-to-application credentials required by ASP.NET and other web services, line-of-business applications, custom software, and virtually every other type of application to communicate with databases, middleware, and other application tiers.

ERPM continuously identifies privileged accounts and interdependencies throughout the IT infrastructure; provides role-based delegation so that so that only appropriate personnel can access privileged accounts; enforces rules for password strength, uniqueness and change frequency – synchronizing changes across dependencies; and delivers real-time audit and alerting capabilities.

Lieberman Software is demonstrating ERPM this week in booth 1110 at Microsoft Tech-Ed in New Orleans.

Lieberman Software provides privileged identity management and security management solutions that secure large, multi-platform enterprises. By automating time-intensive IT administration tasks, Lieberman Software increases control over the computing infrastructure, reduces security vulnerabilities, improves productivity and helps ensure regulatory compliance. Lieberman Software pioneered the privileged identity management market, having developed its first product to address this need in 1999. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., with an additional office in Austin, Texas. For more information, see www.liebsoft.com.